


Sisterhood.

by TheStoriesWeLoveBest



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: F/M, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 22:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20124907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStoriesWeLoveBest/pseuds/TheStoriesWeLoveBest
Summary: Daphne will never understand it. Generations had passed since the last case of the Greengrass curse, why had it gone directly to them? And even if it had to touch one of them, why had it gone to Astoria?





	1. Before Draco Malfoy.

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: This is about Daphne and Astoria relationship. There are brief mentions of Drastoria and NottGrass (Daphne x Theo), but there were secondly. 
> 
> Disclaimer: the characters don't belong to me ;)
> 
> English is not my first language, so please forgive any mistake.

The Magic High Society is governed by rules that neither time nor custom can ever change, there are long lists of protocol and good behavior that, before or after, all children born into one of the families that form that society have been learned. It is a birthright, to be part of the Sacred Twenty-eight, and a privilege that no one can ever take from them.

Daphne remembers with astonishing clarity for how small she was, being in her father's arms at her newborn sister's presentation party. The little girl was in the mother's arms, the party was at the Greengrass Mansion, and one after the other, the family's friends and acquaintances, the High Society, ran before them undoing their praise to the little girl. 

There were Daphne's friends, all with surnames with such history that her parents were already friends with their parents, and her grandparents' grandparents. And they all are related to each other, because in the end all the families that had not suffered blood mixture were related.

Astoria, like Daphne, grew up under the rigorous gaze of the Society. Under headlines of The Prophet who sometimes had as protagonists their family, because just as everyone knew the Malfoys, or the Parkinsons, or the Blacks, everyone knew also of the Greengrass. Hyperion Greengrass was in charge of the family's business, related to magicians all around the world, and made his huge fortune grow by closing deals that left no one indifferent, because of their enormous magnitudes. Dianne Greengrass had founded its own association, dedicated exclusively to social causes, which were used as an excuse to throw big parties. They say that Narcissa Malfoy was once heard to say that no one was throwing a party as Madame Greengrass.

There were no more Greengrass family than the four of them. Both Hyperion and Dianne were unique children, from very old parents when they married. There were no uncles, no relatives, not even far away. 

The two girls were the pride of both parents. Girls of good, well educated, prepared to be useful in the Society, to support a surname with the importance that the Surname Greengrass had.

Daphne was all nerve, feeling, guts. As a child she had been able to get carried away, she had had a hard time keeping calm in the most sharp situations. His father used to scold her when, at parties, the underwear of the clay dress was stained. She was an April girl, with bright blonde hair and green eyes that all the heirs of the Surname Greengrass have had for countless generations. Astoria, who was born in a stormy June, was calm, calm, knew her place and struggled not to get out of what she had been imposed on. Unlike her sister, she had hair as brown as her mother. But they shared the same green eyes. The restlessness and calm complemented each other from the start, Astoria was only two years old when Daphne sneaked her into the garden on a snowy day to play. Although his mother had futilityly failed her, she claimed that someone in their position could not engage in playing with snow. But it didn't matter, deep down: everything Daphne wanted, Daphne got it, she had her methods. And in each of her adventures, Astoria was with her. 

None of her friends had younger siblings, from Tracey Davies to Draco Malfoy, they were all unique children. So, Astoria's mere existence was her privilege. 

From an early girl, Astoria had a complicated health. It was not uncommon for her to get sick more than usual in winter, to get too tired when she ran, or when she played quidditch. She was five years old when she was diagnosed with the curse. Daphne was only seven, and neither was present when the healer who had been treating the last seemingly normal flu Astoria suffered looked at Hyperion and Dianne in the eye and assured them that they would do everything it was in his hands. 

There was no cure, nor did they quite know what the best way to treat her was. It was a millennial curse that someone once put on the women of the Greengrass family. They hadn't appeared for at least two centuries, and they had to study the best way to proceed.  
Those involved Astoria spending much of his childhood in St. Mungo, sometimes in beds that seemed very uncomfortable from Daphne's eyes, in rooms that had cost Hyperion many Galleons to not be shared. Many others in waiting rooms, watching Magicians pass by with all kinds of affliction. And, above all, in the consultation of an elder healer who had read, when he was young, an old book about the curses that affected the oldest families in the magical world. It was this healer that gave her potions, tips: forbidden nothing that exhausted her in excess, forbidden not to eat a balanced diet, forbidden to play quidditch.  
Daphne even feared that Astoria would be barred from going to Hogwarts, but the healer assured that, with the right measures, it would not be necessary.

Daphne left for Hogwarts with a feeling she then didn't know how to explain. What if that curse caused something bad to happen to Astoria while she was at the Castle, having adventures? What if they re-entered her in the hospital like the many times she'd already been through, who would play with her in one of those ugly rooms? Astoria send some owls from time to time, and when she saw her again at Christmas, when she found her exactly as she had left it, a little higher perhaps, although she was low for her age, she was able to breathe relieved.

Astoria was fascinated to hear about the castle, Slytherin, the dungeons, the lake, the Great Hall, and all the things she could learn there. The night before Christmas, she sneaked into her sister's room, and going up to her bed, she listened very carefully to the story of the Troll who escaped from the dungeons on Halloween. That story was much more fun than the Halloween party she had attended with her parents, where, like all of Daphne's friends were at Hogwarts with her, and there were hardly any children her age in the High Magic Society, she hardly knew anyone.

Daphne promised him that Hogwarts would be a unique experience.

And despite that promise, Hogwarts was something that was almost taken from them. And not just from Astoria. When the attacks on sons of Muggles began, Hyperion and Dianne valued Daphne's safety in the castle. Perhaps the school was not safe, perhaps it would be better to value other options such as Beuxbatons, but Daphne begged them with poses that did not correspond to someone of her category, as her mother said, to leave her at Hogwarts. There were her friends, the same friends she'd known since she was born, how could they even value changing schools? 

The case was solved, said The Daily Prophet, and the idea of changing school stopped being valued. But they were still worried about Astoria, and the idea of sending her a whole year away from home, in case she was affected again by her condition.They always used that word when referring to their curse, it was a taboo subject between them, and a forbidden subject in public. No one could have known it, for Dianne considered it an insult to her social position for someone to know about what was happening to Astoria. There were already rumors, about how thin Astoria was, how short, how little she ate, or how pale she looked. 

\- The last thing we need is to feed them [the rumors], make them real.

The first time Astoria saw Hogwarts Castle was not in a wind-swayed boat, when she got off the train on September 1st. It was one afternoon over July, after receiving her letter of admission. Hyperion Greengrass, accompanied by the two girls, requested a personal interview with Dumbledore. Astoria and Daphne waited outside the director's office, without Daphne stopping talking about Slytherin, and the Common Room, and the fastest way to get to the Enchantments class.

Hyperion, however, sat in front of Dumbledore, and staring at him without blinking demanded that he be able to guarantee the safety of his youngest daughter. He spoke, though he had not done so far, of the curse. And he almost threatened him:

\- If you don't assure me Astoria will be safe, she won't come to school.

Dumbledore calmed him down, always using that calm tone that seemed to give away years of experience in the position as a director. He would ensure her protection, he would take care of it himself. Weekly visits to Madame Pomfrey, direct contact with St. Mungo, if necessary.

\- And the dementors? – Questioned Hyperion, quite pleased with the response received. He had never liked Dumbledore, but the school seemed to work and unlike Lucius Malfoy he did not consider a change in direction to be urgent. – Sirius Black's case is becoming serious. I want the assurance that the dementors that the Ministry has assured will guard Hogwarts will not attack Astoria. Or Daphne. 

Dumbledore nodded slowly, his protection also extended to that end.

Hyperion left the director's office quite pleased, and in September Astoria shared a train compartment with Daphne and her friends, excited, nervous, and rather frightened.  
Like the rest of the descendants of the Holy Twenty-eight, the Selector Hat put her in Slytherin.

The dungeons were cold, and a little overwhelming, but the fire was appetizing. And in that common room it was where it was supposed to be. Astoria was really good at doing what it was supposed to do. 

Daphne was sometimes surprised. Astoria was always in a good mood, she never bothered, she did not do it when she was unwell and Madame Pomfrey forced her to stay several days in the infirmary, because better prevent than cure, when as a result of this she should spend entire Saturdays in the library catching up. Not when this kept her from coming down to watch the quidditch games. She didn't seemed bother when she couldn't do her first practice in broom, or when her potion burst into black smoke, because she was really bad at it. 

She was only eleven years old, but she had a straightening worthy of admiration. Most of the time, Astoria spent it with her, and her friends. With Nott, he was the only one who call her by her name, and he always kept a plate with two toasts for breakfast to her. With Pansy, though she never treated her well, even though she was Daphne's best friend. And with Zabini and Malfoy that never spoke directly to her, and they still believed her name was "little Greengrass." Her roommates were not part of the High Society, but she liked them, there was a girl with a twin sister in Ravenclaw, and another one who had three younger siblings, their name were Nikki and Madeleine.

The experience of being in Hogwarts, during its early years, was fun and a little enigmatic, always getting lost in the endless corridors. Sometimes she could find her way back to the Common Room by herself, from where she would start her course again. Other times She was found by Nikki or Madeleine, who laughed and guided her again. And so many others found her some friend of Daphne's.

Daphne also brought her Honeydukes candy on the outings she made to Hogsmeade. And she loved that, because she'd always had a sweet palate. And because, moreover, it was those same sweets that, eaten after bedtime, had made her befriend Nikki and Madeleine.   
Nott liked her, too. Especially since, in the second year of Astoria, shortly after the first Task of the Three Wizard’s Tournament, he assured her that he would bring her all the sweets she wanted from Honeydukes, even the whole shop, if she would help him with Daphne. Astoria didn't quite understand what he meant, but she accepted that kind of deal anyway. 

"Helping him with Daphne" meant that Nott wanted to take her sister to the Yule Balll, and that Astoria should speak for him. But Daphne seemed convinced that Nott was going to ask her, before he did, and delighted with the idea. So Astoria didn't understand why Nott wanted her help. 

On the night of the dance, Daphne tiptoed into Astoria's room, and whispering not to wake Nikki or Madeleine, and told her that Theo had kissed her.

\- Who's Theo?

\- Nott!

\- Oh. – Astoria needed to think a lot about what to say. - And did you like it?

Daphne didn't need to think about it that much.

\- Yes. It has been... like watching the fireworks, in summer. Do you understand me? You know that we always see them from the porch, and they throw them in the distance, but that the heart seems to go at the same speed. -Astoria nodded. -Well, that's how it was.

How wasn't he going to kiss her! Her mother had sent a custom-ordered silver dress from an Italian designer, and Daphne was beautiful, her hair up and her eyes highlighted. Anyone would have wanted to kiss her. But with Nott it was different. Half Hogwarts was looking at how beautiful Daphne was, Astoria had even heard one of the Weasleys comment on it. Everyone knew she was pretty. But Nott, Theo, looked at her like if she was pretty all the time, even when Daphne didn't want to be seen.

That same summer, they started dating. Now, at the holidays, Astoria would cover it up while he and Daphne got lost in every party in search of a corner that was no longer in the light, so that not-so-innocent kisses could begin.

Astoria turned thirteen, and at her birthday party, Theo first officially asked Daphne for a dance. And Dianne exploded with happiness at that, because Nott was someone up to the level of a Greengrass.ç

Two weeks later, in St. Mungo, they were offered an experimental treatment for the curse, and Astoria agreed to try. The curse had not worsened over the years, yes, it suffered more in the winters, and the walls of the Slytherin Common Room were really freezing. But she spent the course spending only a couple of weeks in the infirmary. Astoria felt she could live with it. But still, she agreed, and received three different potions for three different days a week. And she spent a horrible summer trying to get her body to adapt it.   
Daphne took care of her, when she spent the night vomiting, and when she had a fever. She'd take her hair out of her face and put wet towels on her forehead. And sometimes she would tell Theo that she couldn't go with him to the lake that borders Nott Mansion, because she wanted to stay with Astoria, and she would simply tell him that she was having a bad summer, and luckily Theo didn't ask for further explanations. Diannehe continued to organize her parties, sometimes only Daphne attended, and other times neither daughter attended, but never lacked a decent excuse for the Society. To Astoria, the summer gave her the same feeling that a year earlier she had been given in the Quidditch World Cup, the family had not been able to go because a week earlier she had been admitted to St. Mungo, nothing out of the ordinary, she fainted and they did a couple of tests, and left her there several days until concluding that nothing had changed, but the World Cups were missed. Although Hyperion later claimed to rejoice, because he had never joined Lord Voldemort's cause, and did not want the issue of Death Eaters to affect his most recent business. 

In August, Theo appeared around the mansion, with sweets for Astoria. And he spent the afternoon with the two sisters, sitting in the garden, for Astoria had no fever that day. Telling them that Pansy was with Zabini spending a few days in Scotland, and that Malfoy was spending the end of summer in his family's villa in Italy. He himself was going to France just a few days later. And he made sure he was going to miss Daphne so much, and then they started kissing.

The third year of Astoria was one of the worst she spent at Hogwarts, her body still refused to accept the new treatment, and Umbridge gave her goose bumps. Daphne was more aware of her than usual, especially for the summer she had gone by, she recommended that she not be part of the Inquisitorial Brigade (neither did Nott, although the rest of her friends did), because she had remembered something her father used to say a lot: don't join a social cause. Use the social cause to your advantage. Although Astoria could already go toHogsmeade, she couldn't do it until after Christmas, because her health didn't allow her.

When she returned to the Castle, after spending Christmas at home with her parents and sister, she had a difficult winter, but in the spring her health began to give her a break, and she finally was able to go to the Villa and spend half of all her Savings on Honeydukes. And sit down with Daphne and her friends at any of The Three Brooms table and savor a delicious butter beer. She would have done it with Nikki and Madeleine, but they had gone to Hogsmade too much, they didn't feel like it anymore. They were good friends, but there was only one person Astoria considered her best friend, and that was Daphne.  
Once her body got used to the new treatment, it took effect, and she did not suffer a single bad streak throughout the summer that followed her third year, or the entire year after. It had been a particularly difficult year for the Magic Society, Lucius Malfoy had entered prison for an incident with Potter last June, and the Death Eaters were mobilizing, politics was being talked about again in the parties Dianne organized. And that was something Dianne hated. However, for Astoria it was a very good year, because she spent a lot of time with Nikki and Madeleine again, and with Dahpne – and with Theo. She was even dating a guy from Slytherin, from her year, for a couple of months. Daphne laughed indulgently at the time of seeing them, was a certain Alec who, according to Daphne, from a distance could be seen that he could not even kiss.

\- But hey, - she'd add by laughing. – We can't all have a Theodore Nott by our side, can we?

Everything was fine. Until the night Dumbledore died.

The Death Eaters had entered the Castle, Daphne entered Astoria’s room after dawn, and closed the door tightly. She moved to Astoria's bed, and told her that, no matter what she heard outside, she didn't must to leave the room, because it was a safe place. Because the Death Eaters would never attack the Slytherin Common Room. She then kissed her on the forehead and went off the room.

Astoria trembled a lot that night. And when Daphne returned to the room she even had a few tenths of a fever. He reminded the healer to tell them that any strong emotion, anything that might alter her, would cause a relapse. Everything had gone so well in the last year that there was neither needed to take any extra potion, she hadn't spent weeks in the infirmary, she hadn't caught a cold. And that night she even needed Nott to put his cape over her own, because she couldn't stop shaking. But she didn't faint, and that considered it a victory. She spent three days in the infirmary and did not attend Dumbledore's funeral. Neither Daphne did, remained by her side, asleep in a chair. 

They returned to the Greengrass Mansion, and found a disaster they had never expected. Hyperion said that they should not go back to the School, that they would end up relating them to the Death Eaters, and that it would be worse for them. Dianne was glad that at least the Astoria’s condition would have improved, and they shouldn't worry about that, now. Because after that strange night, her health returned to the channel she had carried the previous year, and she was all right again. Theo invited them to accompany them to a small village their father had in the south of France, and both sisters accept the invitation, because in England not a ray of sunshine loomed. There they met Tracey Davies, who said there was no reason not to go back to Hogwarts. Neither did Pansy find the reason. Nott kept quiet, his father was Death Eater, and the situation overcame him. Astoria plunged into the pool, and became convinced that there were neither wars, nor Death Eaters, nor curses, that, when she returned home, everything would go exactly as always.

Except it wasn't, because Nikki and Madeleine didn't go back to Hogwarts. And Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught by the Carrow siblings, and she did not know how to cast the Cruciatus curse.

On the third day of trying, with a third-grader, she broke down in tears. And Alecto Carrow considered that the best punishment for not having the curse come out of her wand was that she suffered it herself. Slytherin pupils were never punished, let alone any of the Holy Twenty-eight, but as they dragged her through the dungeons, with her shaking and tripping over her own feet, she assured her that it was a warning, not a punish. 

\- Your family's loyalty is already questioned, Greengrass. I would recommend you start doing what you're told.

If she hadn't thrown, two seconds later, the curse against her fragile body she might even have stopped to think what that meant. Who could question her family's loyalty? And why, if they hadn't done anything?

Astoria knew the pain, lived with the curse on her body. She knew what it was like to feel every bone in her body writhe as she tried to take a step. But, if you ever asked her, her answer was that she didn't know the pain until that day. She screamed so much that she must have woken up the whole castle. And she passed out three times earlier than usual. The last thing she saw was someone interrupting the room. Then, when she woke up two days later in St. Mungo, she was told it had been Professor Snape.

As Hyperion had already done with Dumbledore, at the change of director, he went to talk to Snape,and stated without a doubt that, if he could not guarantee the safety of their daughters, Astoria would not go to the School. Snape, like Dumbledore, took responsibility for it. It had been Nott who told him that Alecto Carrow was taking her to the dungeon where torture used to be practiced in those days. He was sometimes surprised at the frivolity with which certain terms were used in those times, such as torture. 

Dianne had been crying, her eyes red and makeup off. Daphne trembled as much as Astoria itself, and as soon as she saw her blink, she pounced on her. For the first time, despite all they had already experienced, she thought Astoria would never open her eyes again. She had cried as much as her mother, though she had disguised it better. Hyperion seemed really relieved that she had woken up, as if he hadn't expected it either. 

In the weeks that followed his awakening, before she even left St. Mungo, they talked a lot about whether they should return to the Castle. Astoria wanted to do it. 

\- This is about to end– his father told her one afternoon. – Next year you will be back. The war won't last forever.

Neither did Daphne return to the School, and Nott left the course just a month later. 

Everyone else stayed at the Castle. It seemed to be summer again, except that the February snow was piling up in the windows. But Daphne spent her days with them again, and Theo went more and more often. Astoria thanked him for notifying Snape, and he said how to downplay it that things like that are those that are done for the family.

\- Except you and I aren't family yet.

He laughed.

\- Yet.

The Cruciatus Curse had a rare effect on Astoria's body, and the treatment that had worked so well, and which had long been hard to adapt, ceased to influence her body. Now the potions made her find herself even worse, there were bad days and worse days, but not good days. By the time May began, she had already stopped the treatment, and had returned to the simple potions that any magician took to alleviate any pain, and which never served much. She had a hard time half the month, and the other half spent it convincing herself that the next month she wouldn't be so ill.

Daphne was still surprised, because neither war nor curse had changed the way she saw the world. Astoria remained optimistic, while swallowing vial after vial of a thousand different potions. And she was, sharing his father's philosophy that that war was soon to end, as he passed the pages of the paper. Astoria never bothered, not even when they could not go to Diagon Alley, because it was dangerous to go out on the street in times like those; nor when she could not enjoy the snow, because she had fever again. She didn't even seem to be bother when in March she needed to spend another couple of weeks in St. Mungo.

Daphne never did her N.E.W.T. and Astoria was not tested for her O.W.L.S. but both decided they didn't want to go back to Hogwarts the following year. And her mother threw a big party that July at the Greengrass Mansion, because her daughters had finished studying (an euphemism), and because she believed that the Magic High Society needed it, especially since in August the trials against the death eaters began and half of that high society wouldn't come out well. 

Daphne and Nott broke a week after Nott (father) was sent to Azkaban. Astoria never knew the reason. Daphne spent as much time with her as before, except that she was now sadder, more thoughtful, and more philosophical. They took advantage of the good days to go to Diagon Alley, to buy in any store. Or to wander around the London Muggle, which was not made ruins and in need of reconstruction. They read in a newspaper that Draco Malfoy wasn't going into Azkaban. Daphne wrinkled it and threw it in a trash can. 

\- All my friends are in deep shit- she said.

\- Even Nott?

Daphne was silent. They were in The Leaky Cauldron, Daphne had ordered a glass of the best elf wine, because since she and Nott decided to quit was her favorite drink. And Astoria one more butter beer. Wizards who had now become heroes passed past them and greeted each other. Harry Potter accompanied Ginny Weasley did, but did not notice them.

\- How do you do it, Astoria? - Said Daphne suddenly. - You always know how to get back together. After everything you've been through, I don't know why you don't cry, just.   
Because you don't yell. Because you don't think the world to f...

\- I don't need it – she cut it quickly. She'd know her mother would put on a horrible face if she heard her sister talk like that. – I haven't had such a bad life.

\- No?

\- No. I've had you, and... My life has been pretty normal, there's nothing I can regret.

\- Don't you regret having the curse?

Astoria shrugged.

\- What good would it do? It's not like that's going to make it disappear, is it?

Once again, Daphne was truly surprised by her sister's fortitude. She hadn't even turned sixteen yet, how could she be so mature?


	2. After Draco Malfoy.

A month before Astoria came of age, she was offered another experimental treatment in St. Mungo. The situation had begun to outrun the whole family now, she was rarely well. She had a fever almost every day, and every solid food that entered his body its rejected. The potions no longer relieved her of any pain. And sometimes it was impossible for her to even sleep. Those nights, Daphne would change rooms, cross the corridor, and sit with her in bed, and stroke her hair until her little sister could fall asleep. Then she watched over her, stood by her side, and controlled her temperature. And she always worried that she ate enough, even when her body allowed it. 

She had begun to help her mother with the Greengrass Association, and the causes of charity. And the truth was, she liked it. Yes, she had always moved more by guts and heart than by brain, but she knew the Magic Society, and the dirty rags of a good part of them. She haven't seen Nott since ninety-eight, and she could hardly say she didn't think of him. Certainly, she had other concerns, always passing, and that never lasted more than a week, always taller than her, and that never got too complicated. And, above all, they were never serious. These were concerns she found among the wizards crowding the new pubs open to wizards all over the Muggle world, because it certainly seemed that in those days both worlds were about to unite, there were places where wizards and muggles were mixed, and it was never easy to distinguish one from another. They said out there that, one night, that concern was a Gryffindor. But nothing the Prophet said of it, because if there was one thing Dianne demanded of her, it was that her indiscretions should not be made public. Daphne knew that if her amusements came to the ears of the press, her mother would prevent her from continuing to have fun.

That day in question, Daphne and her mother had been busy preparing Astoria's 17th birthday, making a beautiful June garden party. And a good part of the New High Society would be invited, implying that now an invitation would be extended to other families of the Twenty-eight who until then had not been worthy of such an honor, or so said Dianne as she pointed at Anna Abbott at a table at the southern end of the garden. They were people who would receive the invitation out of courtesy, and who by the same politeness would reject it, did not want to be there, and they knew they were not loved either, like the Weasleys. Until now it had even been overlooked that they were part of the Sacred Twenty-eight, it was something that did not exist. 

Astoria went alone to St. Mungo, wearing a pretty dress that her father had brought her from his last trip to Ireland. And the heels she had worn were made a slight tap-tap on the floor every time she moved her foot with some nervousness. Waits were always the worst. The old healer, who over the years worsened in his physique, gave her five potions, three for two days, and two for two different two, and recommended that she have revisions done more often, because it was not enough only when the curse affected her. 

\- Your condition is going to become more serious over the years, Miss Greengrass. Controlling it is the best option.

She left San Mungo with the potions tinkling in the purse she was premiering that same day. And there he was, in the main hall, the man that all the press claimed that the earth had swallowed. Draco Malfoy himself, in a black suit, and well combed, with his hands in his pockets. And accompanied by his mother, who seemed unbetter and somewhat ill. Narcissa Malfoy approached the counter, Draco lagged a little behind, then looking at her.

\- Little Greengrass?

Astoria needed to bite her tongue. She smiled and greeted him with a nod.

\- Nobody calls me that anymore. My name is Astoria.

He seemed to even blush.

\- I have to admit, I didn't remember.

It was different, those words would never have left the lips of the Draco Malfoy she knew. He almost seemed more humble, for his pose no longer had the highness he once possessed. War leaves a dent in everyone. 

\- I read that in the end you weren't sent to Azkaban.

He shook his head, again his cheeks seemed to acquire a pink hue that stood out above his paleness.

\- They testified on my behalf - he acknowledged. – Neither was my mother sent there. My father does.

\- I am sorry.

She wasn't sorry, but it was the right thing to do. Lucius Malfoy never liked her, he was a haughty and derogatory man who had always looked at the Greengrassovers by the shoulder for not taking sides on political issues, if being a follower of Lord Voldemort can be considered a political issue.

Narcissa Malfoy approached them with a piece of paper in her hand, with the name of several potions written on it. They were sleeping potions, Astoria recognized them because she had taken more than half in the last six months. 

\- Ah, Miss Greengrass - she greeted her. -What... surprise finding you here.

Astoria did not disclose her motive for being there. It remained the Best Kept Secret of the Greengrass family. Her greeting to Narcissa was limited to a "Madame Malfoy" followed by another head movement.

She was already moving away from them when she backed down again, because if she didn't she would always have had the "and if..." in the body, and because she knew Parkinson, Zabini, and Davies had already accepted the invitation. She went exclusively to Draco, although she assumed Narcissa would be a guest. 

\- My sister's throwing my birthday party. I think they sent you an invitation, - she added. He seemed whipped, confused. –You could stop by.

Without saying anything else, she turned and walked away.

The party was a success, of course, everything Dianne organized – and now also Daphne – was, everyone wanted them to organize their parties. Wizards Astoria had never seen in her life congratulated her, while she thanked her that afternoon her discomfort had subsided, because she had begun the morning of her seventeen year being sick. Zabini complimented her unsuccessfully, because Astoria was sure she didn't even know her name yet. Parkinson did so with an even more contemptuous gesture, flattering her without wanting to, and trying to undermine her morale on the spot. Daphne, by her side, winked at her sister, because they both knew what Pansy was like, and that she should never be taken too seriously. Tracey Davies was the only one who really was glad to see her, who gave her a hug and congratulated her on her birthday. But she was gladder to see Daphne, and soon hung from her arm and started talking. Nikki and Madeleine did not attend, she had barely heard from them again, not since the war ended, after they write each other once or twice. She knew they had received an invitation, but she also knew all the reasons why none had come. It was still not well seen to be part of the High Society.

Nott appeared among the crowd, carried a blonde girl by the arm, and seemed to be much better than then, because when he and Daphne break up, he was shattered. Now he looked like him, laughed as he spoke here and there, and chatted easily with anyone except Daphne, who he avoided throughout the evening.

A couple of hours after the party had started, Astoria needed to sit down. Daphne accompanied her and got her a glass of water. It was too hot in the room, there was barely any fresh air running. But little by little she gradually stopped feeling his head spinning.

\- Malfoy?

Daphne's voice pulled her out of her stupor, needed to blink, but she soon glimpsed him, among the people, in the same suit as that day, the same pose, and the same look that screamed at her that everything in him had changed.

\- I didn't think you were coming - Daphne said, rising to greet him.

\- It was a last-minute decision. But I came alone, my mother sends her sincere apologies.

Daphne gave a socially acceptable answer and invited him to accompany them at the table. But she herself had to excuse herself when her mother called her from the other side of the room, with very disguised gestures, to let her know that they had run out of wine.

\- Are you all right? You look... Pale.

Astoria lifted just a couple of fingers, to keep him quiet.

\- I'll get over it in a minute, really.

After looking at her with a decisive eye, and a little critical, he added:

\- You're very pretty, really.

\- It's my birthday - she replied, shrugging.

\- True. Congratulations.

\- Thank you – she answered, because the congratulations seemed sincere, and because he himself looked at her as if she had never seen anything like her in the world. She wanted to ask him what he was looking at, but her mother would have deemed it inappropriate, however, he seemed to give them for alluding and answered the unasked question.

\- I was surprised that... That in St. Mungo you invited me to come. You didn't look scared.

\- You don't scare me - he murmured.

\- You don't look defensive. Everyone feels superior enough to criticize the Malfoys today.

Astoria didn't respond. He took courage.

\- I… Maybe you and me could go out someday

It took her so long to process his words, that he began to blush.

\- Do you want us to have a date?

He nodded.

\- I want to see why you're so different from the rest, little Greengrass.

She wasn't any different from the rest, and neither was the kind of girl Draco Malfoy looks at. And maybe that's what she saw differently about him, she wasn't sure, but he seemed sincere about wanting to meet her, hesitant even that she might refuse. 

\- You don't have to answer me now... -He started saying.

\- No, it's okay. We could have that date. It's just that...

That any day she might not be well, that tonight she was, and that it was a tremendous stupid thing to waste a night like that, just because it had already started.

\- We could have it now...

\- Now?

\- Get me dancing. My mother brought this band from New York, we could take advantage of it.

Draco Malfoy needed to think about it for a couple of seconds, got up from his chair extremely slowly, undid the button on the jacket he was wearing, and bowed worthy of another era but that Astoria had seen a million times.

\- Miss Greengrass?

Astoria accepted the gesture and the dance. And it was as if her life changed forever from that night.

She could say that they had never treated her that way, while they danced, Draco Malfoy's fingers trembled when she touched her, almost seeming to turn her into an angel who was afraid to rub. And yet days later, as she kissed her, he seemed afraid to walk away from her. And those fingertips, as they walked through her skin, made her tremble. No one had never treated her like that before, they've never looked at her like that. Because as he spoke, and told some anecdote of childhood, or of the last gossip of The Prophet he would only look at her lips, and sometimes – if they were alone – dive to catch a kiss or two. 

He began a very usual foolish courtship among the oldest families of the Society. Except that this seemed to even become public, Astoria found herself on a September day leading the cover of three magazines and two newspapers. Daphne didn't finish approving it, she considered herself to have a good eye for the Magic Society, and said the Malfoys were finished.

\- But it's not because he's a Malfoy – Astoria answered. – It's because it's Draco. And he seems to want to love me. 

The boy was trying hard. He made her his world, and of her whims his duty.

Daphne sometimes accompanied them, because it was also not well seen that they spent much time together and alone, chatted with Malfoy animatedly, never about Astoria, and then disguised not to look when they kissed, just as Astoria did when she and Nott did it in the Garden some years before. They were traditions that the new generations no longer struggled to maintain. 

Neither Hyperion nor Dianne looked with good eyes at the relationship, which by October was already quite public. They saw about the last name Malfoy the shadow of the Death Eaters, and nothing good could be related to them.

Neither was Narcissa a supporter of the relationship, but she did not give her opinion. Although Astoria suspected that she saw more than she said, and that something in her physique devolved the fragility of her condition. But she dared not open her mouth, because doing so amounted to counting aloud her best secret, to also narrating it to Draco... The new treatment worked perfectly, since her birthday she had not again suffered any relapse, and she was naive enoughto begin to believe that the curse might even have subsided.

Until that Christmas, when the newspapers talked about the marriage liaison of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. She had any relapse, one more blackout, while looking for something to wear, because she was supposed to meet with Draco for dinner. Her parents were in Sweden, on a trip that still had a week's long. Daphne, who was sitting on the bed, to give her her opinion, caught her before she touched the ground. And she contacted the healer herself, who appeared there without them having to go to St. Mungo.

\- This shouldn't happen - he said. - Not with the new medication...

And then he ordered to take her to the hospital. And they made her more tests than Daphne had seen so far. Astoria awoke at sunset of next day, with Daphne's weary smile by her side, as always. "Hey, how are you feeling?". The healer appeared the next morning, faced with a nightless sleep, despite his advanced age. 

\- Miss Greengrass, we have a problem.

The curse advanced unstoppable, and nothing they could do about it. It had multiplied its gravity and that had only one logical consequence: it had shortened her life. As when she was five years old, she heard a long list of bans again, and another long list of potions. And another change of treatment. And more reviews, and more hours in San Mungo.

No one had warned Draco Malfoy that dinner had been cancelled. They'd been seeing each other for almost six months, and he was smart enough to know she hadn't stood him up. But no one answered at The Greengrass Mansion, where he came looking for her. And no one answered the letters he sent. 

Astoria, before the words of the healer, looked to the front and held back the tears. And she went a whole day without saying a word. Daphne by her side, wept. She cried as she carefully combed her sister's hair, and while asking her to please say something. She saw in her sister's face all the maturity, and the fortitude, maintained for years, striving to get out, struggling to reach the surface, but she saw her repressed it, kept it in a drawer. Astoria hugged her, spent two nights awake, and then fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

They returned to the Mansion, Daphne and Astoria, a couple of days later. And they found an owl in the living room window. The sender was Draco Malfoy, but Astoria discarded the letter with a hand gesture.

\- It's over - she added. And then she said she was going to take a bath.

That death sentence break Astoria in so many different pieces that she didn't even know where to start breaking.

Meanwhile, Daphne, organized all the new potions on her little sister's bedside table. And she cried, she cried so much that she didn't know if she had ever cried in such a way. Did there really exist a world without Astoria?

The new treatment was severe and moderately effective. The first few days, neither her body nor her mind adapted to it; and Daphne saw her sister in a worse psychological state than she had ever seen her. She barely got out of bed, and when she did, she wouldn't leave the room. She had a fever all the time, and a general weakness that resulted in permanent muscle pain.

She would raise her food to the room herself, and control her daily intake. The new treatment didn't make her vomit, but it took away her appetite. And as the days passed, Astoria barely ate. The sun was seeping through the large window of her room, but she always remained pale. And her voice was barely heard.

Her parents didn't take it much better, Hyperion in a fit of hysteria caught a Shuttle, not saying where he was going, and assured them he was going to find a cure. He came back two days later, and fell asleep next to Astoria, crying. Dianne collapsed alone, in front of a smiling photo of a newborn Astoria. She confessed to Daphne that she wouldn't know how to live without Astoria. 

Daphne herself didn't even know how to take it. At first, she did so with new distractions, without distinguishing between wizards or Muggles, who never got to see the sunlight because she always says goodbye the same night they started. Then it translated into those distractions and more elf wine. And then she went on to those distractions, plus elf wine, and to cry a lot, in his sister's bed. Seeing the figure of self-imposed inertia lying next to her. 

Draco Malfoy appeared at the Greengrass mansion one February morning. He hadn't heard from any of the Greengrass for months, and he claimed to be going crazy. Astoria was sleeping, Dianne gathered at the Parkinson's house, and Hyperion wouldn't come back until nightfall. Daphne came to meet him when a House Elf moved him into the chimney room. He seemed thinner, but so was she; and more tired, but again she was too. And he seemed more concerned, but it was something they also shared. 

\- I want to know what happened, - the boy said. – I take responsibility if she has preferred not to see me again, but I want to know why.

Daphne sighed, dropped into an armchair and closed her eyes.

\- Don't do this now, Malfoy.

\- And why? I've been the one who's been unanswered for two months, and no reason. I want to talk to her - he demanded it.

Daphne, the only thing that really worried her, was that the tone of her voice would awaken Astoria, who had just fallen asleep.

\- You can't come here and demand nothing. If Astoria had could... She would have wanted, she herself would have contacted you.

The words made him sit on the couch, next to her, and bury the head in his hands.

\- But what have I done? Was it the surname Malfoy, the social pressure?

\- It had nothing to do with you.

\- Why then? Why the change of heart?

\- Is... It's complicated, Malfoy. And it's not up to me to explain it to you. 

\- Well, somebody's got to do it, Daphne.

\- Yes. Astoria. But not today.

Before Draco could answer, Astoria appeared at the door of the room, with a bluish baton covering his thin figure. She seemed tired, and very unimproved. It was the first time in almost two months that she had left her room.

Draco frowned, worried all his features, got up and made a good time approaching her, but stayed halfway. Daphne, on the other hand, got up and came up to her, approaching her arm to help her stay on her feet, though at the moment she didn't seem to have lost her balance.

\- Are you ok?

Astoria nodded, momentary lost to the presence of Draco Malfoy. She shook the head and lifted an empty vial of potion she carried in one hand. 

\- I think I'm going to have to go to Diagon Alley...

\- I can go myself – offered Draco Malfoy. And Daphne can assure that, at that very instant, Astoria blushed. Daphne advanced, retrieved the empty jar and led her sister to the couch, sitting her in front of the fire.

\- I'll go. Draco's going to stay with you, okay? - Astoria seemed to need a couple of seconds to take it on, but ended up nodding. - You can talk to him - she added, as if she were addressing a little girl. - He seems to love you, seems to want to love you, remember? - she added quietly, sticking her mouth to her sister's ear, which she nodded very very slowly.

Accepting that Malfoy and Astoria deserved a conversation, she left them alone. She was out exactly forty-five minutes, and when she came back, they were both crying. Astoria curled up with in his shoulder. He kept kissing him on the head, muttering things Daphne didn't hear. 

\- He - said Astoria that same night, as Daphne placed the blanket next to her. – He said he loves me.

\- Did you tell him?

\- You said I could trust him.

Daphne laughed. Draco Malfoy had made her sister look like her sister again, to speak and communicate, and even smiled.

\- I think it's good for you, - she replied.

\- I think so, too.

The new treatment took a month to rebuild Astoria. And it's not that she was okay, but sh was better. Everything in her face said she had accepted her fate. 

\- If my life is going to be shorter than the others, I'm going to have to live it better, won't I? - She said one day to Daphne. And then she showed her an engagement ring that glistened on her ring finger.

Daphne lost her speech, and Dianne almost fainted. Hyperion wanted to have a formal dinner with Malfoy, who would officially present himself as his daughter's fiancé. And Daphne had to admit that he passed the test. 

And that Astoria was happy, much happier than she had ever been. She smiled a lot, and she laughed even more. And she barely separated from Draco Malfoy, who was spending more and more time at the Greengrass Mansion. And she left home again, she and Draco strolled around the London Muggle, something unimaginable to two heirs of the last names of the Twenty-eight until now, and fell increasingly in love, if that was possible. 

Daphne had never seen a couple as in love as Mr. Malfoy, and the future Mrs. Malfoy. How strange it was to think of Astoria as Madame Malfoy! When she thought like that, only Narcissa came to mind, and it wasn't an image she wanted to relate to her sister.

As Astoria's life, presumed to be shortened, was advancing at full speed. Hers seemed to go astray, one-night's amusements were no longer amusing, and she was beginning to feel more alone than ever. That same summer her sister would leave the Greengrass Mansion, and she, who was nevertheless the eldest, would still be there. 

Astoria and Draco had a summer wedding, in the middle of July, warm but not suffocating. It was in the gardens of Malfoy Mansion and organized between Dianne, Daphne, and Narcissa. The groom's mother to nothing agreed, and Dianne and Daphne had to fight a lot. The great impediment they encountered was the Magic Society, good-looking people like Madame Malkin who refused to "participate in the wedding of a Death Eater", was of no use to the sentence that had fallen on the surname Malfoy, that quits them all the guilt. Astoria's dress was designed in France, matching a dress robe they created for the groom. And the music was based on a string quartet from Italy. Everyone received an invitation, but not everyone came, they came exactly as expected, and the press, which had already spent weeks speculating about the wedding, at the lack of news of little James Sirius Potter who had been born two or three months before. Three different reporters attended Malfoy Manor, and none received news. Daphne was bridesmaid, Zabini best man. Astoria was gorgeous. And, against all odds, the groom cried. 

Astoria was fine. It was all given to make it a good day, and not a little dizziness bothered her all the evening. Something she deeply appreciated, even though Daphne and her parents, and now her husband,did not stop asking her how she was feeling.

The newly married leave at midnight to their honeymoon, for two weeks on a small island in the Atlantic that the Malfoys had since generations ago. But the party continued, the quartet continued to play, and families dating back generations continued to gossip quietly, with their heads glued. Theodore Nott had come, no partner that time. Pansy and Zabini, they had already left, together (something that raised many talks), and Tracey Davies kissed a second cousin from Zabini, in a corner, between the curtains, behind the musicians.

Nott's voice was more serious than Daphne remembered. And he was taller, and he had more weight in his gaze. His father had already served his sentence in Azkaban, but they didn't talk about it. He was the first to speak, flattered the party, and flattered her dress. And he said he missed her. 

\- You were always my best friend.

And before Daphne was able to react, she would pull him upstairs in search of an unoccupied room, Nott already without a tie and with his hands on the zipper of her dress.

Why she allowed that to happen was something she didn't come to discover. Why didn’t she avoid it later, she didn’t discover either. She looked for his lips in the dark and meet him at the club she used to go to, and she kissed him just as she had kissed a thousand before him, except that something had come different. And she was always expected to wake up with him, at Nott Mansion, preferably.

It was good for her to sleep with him again, because no one kiss down her neck like Nott did.

She confessed him that she had felt alone.

\- Do you think it was a mistake that you and I..? Our break up?

Daphne needed to think about it.

\- No. I don't think we'd meet again. We needed to grow up. 

Astoria had not yet returned from her honeymoon, and Daphne was in the front pages of some papers. Her relationship with Nott was slow, and unconventional, there was no courtship, no flirtation, and all the photos that were seen in The Prophet, or in the Heart of The Witch, were high stings and in the middle of the night. Like that weird, grown-up kiss, they took a day on the Night Bus (don't ask either of them what they were doing there, because neither remembers the reason).

Astoria's trip sat beautifully in her, regained some of the lost health, and almost felt like it was back to before the fateful news. She came tanned and radiant, still smiling. And, above all, in love with her husband.

They couldn’t meet as much as they used to. Now Astoria had her own life, Narcissa was teaching her the positions that Madame Malfoy should have, almost seemed to have become the First Lady of the High Society, attended parties on behalf of the family, social events and quidditch parties. 

Daphne didn't even know how she did it. Week after week, newspapers invented new fallacies against her: one day they claimed that she had been Death Eater, another that she had only married because of a love potion... Daphne burned the newspapers so hard that sometimes she even burned her hands. Hyperion was angry, ensuring he was going to sue those reporters. And Dianne kept her pose upright, though her hands trembled so much that she once even spilled the tea from her cup.

The lies didn't stop, but Astoria miraculously didn't seem to be affected. From one of the thousand halls of the Malfoy Mansion, he rejected them as absurd. The marriage ring gave her cheeks a certain color. She was prettier than Daphne had ever seen her.

The new treatment worked wonders, and it might not extend her life, but it allowed her to live it. And she was satisfied.

One Wednesday when Daphne went to visit her, Astoria drank tea with Narcissa, spoke in a polite and polite tone, well-calculated comments. Narcissa left them alone. Astoria did not move from her seat, invited her to sit down and looked at her with raised eyebrows and questions.

\- So, Nott, huh?

Daphne laughed.

\- So, they fly fast, the news...

\- Faster than the wind - she said. Astoria did not ask for details but looked deep into her eyes and asked if she was sure what she was doing. Daphne shrugged.

\- No. But I never am. Not with him.

\- You've always made a good couple.

\- We've always been a disaster - she replied. – But we hit together, didn't we?

Astoria nodded.

\- I'll bet anything you want that sooner or later an engagement ring will appear on your finger.

It was rather later, of course. Astoria was rarely wrong, but she couldn't pretend to be right about everything either. Before Daphne got engaged, at a rather confusing Sunday dinner for everyone, Astoria stood up, with a special twinkle in her eyes, and announced she was pregnant. And the reactions were mixed and hard to forget.

Hyperion began to curse in French, although none of them knew he knew French. Dianne buried her head in her hands. And Daphne looked at her sister, worried. Draco kept his pose steady. Astoria merely took some air.

No one had vociferized it, no healer had said it, but everyone at the table knew. Her condition was affected even by the weather changes, what would happen to a pregnancy?  
She assured them that yes, that she had spoken to the healers, but none seemed to believe him.

Astoria's pregnancy was rare, Daphne never came to find a better way to describe it. Astoria glistened, while touching her belly; but had a fever, and her cheeks lit. And at five months she could barely get out of bed, because the dizziness was constant, and her medication incompatible with pregnancy. Neither Daphne nor Draco knew what to do, they were plunged into a pit of uncertainty from which only time would rid them. Nor was Nott quite sure how to act, because night after night he contemplated the concern in Daphne's frown.

Against all odds: Astoria survived. No one knew how she did it, she was not expected to do so, but on a February 14th, at dawn, Scorpius Malfoy, heir to the long-lived surname, was in her arms, while four reporters from three different newspapers waited at the hospital entrance. Daphne visited her sister two hours after Draco told her the news. She and Nott were the first to arrive, neither Narcissa nor Hyperion, nor Dianne.

Astoria was exhausted, and more disenhanced than she had ever seen her: but she smiled. With her little miracle in her arms, and with her husband – in love until doom – by her side. They asked her to be the little boy's godmother, as they passed the newborn, with pink skin and unopened eyes to her. She could never refuse anything her sister asked her to.  
When Draco left the two sisters alone, in a room of St. Mungo the many others they both knew so well, Astoria – still with Scorpius in his arms – began to cry, in such a disheartening way that Daphne didn’t knew how act. It was as if she was breaking into a thousand pieces, clutching that little being, her son.

\- I've been so selfish, - she muttered amid sobs. – Everything could have gone so wrong.

Daphne must have been confused, for when Astoria recomposed, a couple of minutes later, she looked at her red-eyed and said:

\- What if it had been a girl? What if the curse had affected her, too?

Daphne meant to say something, comfort her. But she could barely move, realizing for the first time the importance and weight of the Greengrass surname in their lives.

\- What if you have a girl? - Asked Astoria then.

Daphne trembled when she hugged her little sister, when she assured her that they would have time to think about it by now, because she was only forty-eight hours old who had given birth, and she needed to recover. Then Scorpius began to cry, and Astoria focused on him all her attention.

That night, Daphne did not attend her date with Theo, sat on the sofa in her room at Greengrass Mansion, and cried again. Holding her heart in the process.

The arrival of Scorpius was a breath of air for the whole family, Astoria needed almost six months to recover, but ended up doing so, and she was able to live her short life again. From the state of loneliness that marriage had been self-imposed since pregnancy, they were now rarely alone; Draco’s old acquaintances, such as Zabini and Parkinson, Hyperion and Dianne, and Narcissa. And most of all, Daphne. 

Neither Astoria nor Daphne brought the subject of the curse back out. Scorpius had been a boy, and it was not worth worrying about the possible ones and if...

It was Daphne who, one particularly warm autumn day, with her sister and Draco sitting on the lawn, grabbed her godson's little hand and taught him to walk. She was the one who took Scorpius to Muggle London when his mother had a bad day, the one that let him stay awake until lately, and the one who taught him to do a thousand mischiefs. Astoria taught him piano, and to read, and history, intelligence taken from the books. But Daphne taught him rebellion, and mischief. Draco complained, did not consider that such a proper behavior, nor that it should be encouraged, Astoria simply laughed, Scorpius was her little dream come true, her reality indisputable.

But the rumors continued, there was not a day that the Prophet did not lie, and the lie they liked most was that of the Son of Voldemort. As she had done up to the time, Astoria discarded them with the hand, saying that time would erase them, that they were only gossip. Draco didn't take it so well, but he never had Astoria's good predisposition. Daphne burned the newspapers, she herself had even gone to the Prophet's writing to ask for explanations, but no one answered. 

Theodore Nott asked her to marry him the same day the Potter couple had their third child, a girl. The proposal party was spectacular, although the wedding was delayed a couple of years because Astoria was not back to it. The medication was never the same, and potions varied across the entire color gamut, sometimes worked, and other times didn’t. 

In two thousand ten, after many years of struggle, the curse gave her a rest, and in general: she had a good year. She barely needed to keep in bed, and only a couple of weeks she suffered relapses like the ones she used to give a couple of times a month.

Daphne married in the winter. And Theodore Nott was handsome. It was Hyperion who wept, and Scorpius who took the rings to the altar.

That wedding closed the line of the Greengrass, of course the blood would still live on the descendants, but there would be no future generations with the surname Greengrass, and the only one who would still maintain it would be Hyperion. The Greengrass were lost in the surname Malfoy and in the Nott.

The honeymoon was in Nice, they were almost two months away, and when they returned Daphne was pregnant with her first child. At first, Astoria only felt happiness for her sister, then when they were alone, she cried again. Because of the risk. 

He was a boy, and they called him Liam.

Scorpius was almost eleven years old when Daphne and Theo had Audrey. And Astoria cried again, in San Mungo, hugging her sister just as her sister had hugged her the night Scorpius was born.

But Audrey Nott was healthy, restless and rebellious, and gave no indication of being a victim of the curse.

When Scorpius went to Hogwarts, the curse gave Astoria another setback. She was weaker than she had ever been before. She was tired all the time, and she could barely get up without help.

Contrary to everyone's belief, no medication appeared that could fix it, and by the time Scorpius returned from his second year at the Castle, all hope that Astoria would survive even another year were null and void. The healers had warned them.

The last time Daphne saw her little sister was the day before she died. Liam and Audrey stayed in the garden of the Malfoy mansion, Scorpius accompanied them a little later. Both sisters found theself alone: Astoria sleeping, and Daphne crying.

How do you hug someone when you know that's going to be the last hug?

So much so she cried, Daphne must have run out of tears. But one way or another, they're still spilling down their cheeks. Even Theo cried. 

The press almost awaited Astoria's burial. And Daphne had an arch. Journalists were piling up at the cemetery gates, and even the threats Daphne made to them were enough to get them to leave. 

Scorpius hugged Daphne as soon as he saw her, wept against her shoulder – because the boy was getting taller, and neither of the two sisters were tall. He wept, cried, and sought a comfort that Daphne could not offer, because she too wept. 

\- I miss her, Aunt.

\- I know, Scorpion. I miss her too.


	3. After Astoria Malfoy, neé Greengrass.

Twenty years after the burial, Scorpius Malfoy appeared again in tears at her door. He hugged his aunt again, and walked to the fireplace room in the Nott Mansion. 

He was going to be a father, he confessed. After a lifetime stolen from moments with his mother, he was now going to become a father figure. Daphne hugged him, rinsed his tears like she did on his graduation day, because perhaps Astoria hadn't been there, but she had been. She had always been aware that Scorpius would never feel alone, because if he had felt, Astoria would never have forgiven her.

He had finished Hogwarts with honors, and had studied to be a healer. And now he worked in St. Mungo. And he was now in the ‘rare curse’ area, looking for cures for the rarest curses known. And he had married Rose Weasley at a wedding hosted by Daphne and which the press called epic.

\- What if it's a girl? – He asked, in sobs. - What if my baby has the curse?

Daphne felt the knot in her throat, as the gray eyes of Scorpius – all of Malfoy – looked at her.

\- Audrey is a girl, Scorpion. And it doesn't have the curse. 

\- Yes, but what if he does?

There was no answer. And they both knew. They cried together until it was dark, while Astoria laughed without anyone being aware, in Nott's photograph of a summer, when she was sixteen years old, behind their back.

\- Live. If your baby does have the curse, he must live. As much as possible. - Daphne replied afterwards, when Scorpius was ready to use the Red Flu to go back home.

Astoria would have been so damn proud of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wasn't fully happy with how this turned. I had other things in mind.   
But I want to thank you everyone of you who had read it. Really. Thank you.


End file.
